This Company Is Crowdsourcing Maps For Self-Driving Cars (wired.com)

mirandakatz writes: If we want self-driving cars to become mainstream, we need maps -- and not just any maps. We need ridiculously detailed and constantly updated maps of the world's roads. And there's a mad race among startups to become the definitive provider of those maps. At Backchannel, Steven Levy takes a deep look at Mapper, a startup that just came out of stealth today and that hopes to become that definitive provider by crowdsourcing the production of those maps, paying drivers to drive around with a special mapping device on their windshields. As Levy writes, "Mapper's solution is to create an army of part-time workers to gather data that will accrue to a huge "base map" for autonomous cars, and to update the map to keep it current. Think of the work as an alternative to driving for Uber and Lyft, without having to deal with customer ratings or backseat outbursts from Travis Kalanick."

Comments

Re:OpenStreetMap

[jellomizer]

If self driving cars need such detailed maps, then Self Driving cars are not yet ready for the general public.

I know my GPS sometimes gets confused when going off a Ramp onto a highway, or a road parallel to a highway, and areas that fork rather rapidly. However this requires the self driving car to make the decisions not a detailed map. Because Roads change too often. Just this summer, we had some flooding that wiped out a good part of a road, for a few weeks, one lane of the road was closed causing 1 way traffic with a makeshift stoplight. Then after construction was done the road was shifted 15 feet to one side. If self driving cars are to be a reality, they will need to figure this stuff out by itself, and not with detailed maps. As this stuff can change faster (especially on low populated areas) then people can record such changes.